Peace Diaries Workspace

I. Azerbaijan Chapter 1: Baku / #245 \| Chapter 2: Mingachevir
	Chapter 2: Mingachevir School #3 Teaches: Rima Mammadova, Shamisiyya Mustafayeva, Sima Talibova

	Lala M. I want a Separate Room! Every country has its own economic condition, political system and cultural legacy, which has been formed for many centuries, stood the test of ages and become inseparable part of our life. And every country has its own individual features, which differs it from others. They are living level, mentality, traditions, language, history, culture, and many other things. There is such opinion that if you want to make the acquaintance with any country you should live with the family that lives in this country. I agree with this opinion, because each family is a small model of the country in which it lives. It is like a small state with its own government, economy system, law, traditions and history. Let’s imagine our families as a small country. Our parents form the government of our state. They make laws and order, earn money, and provide us with all necessary things. We, children are citizens with our rights and duties. We depend on our parents; our parents depend on our government, like it depends on the International organizations. What do I want my government -family to change in order to improve our quality of life. Adults speak a lot about children’s rights. They say that everybody must respect children’s personality and private life. And each right in the first turn should be observed in the family. How can they speak about privacy if we don’t have our own room in the houses? I’m wondering how many children in Azerbaijan have their own private rooms? I inquired in my class; only 8 students out of 16 have their own room. You can ask what we need this room for? Please don’t think that in my room I’m going to do things that I can’t do in the other places. But I want to have a place, which belongs only to me. Where I can leave all my things, where everything will be as I want, where I can do all I want. Where I can be left alone to prepare my homework, to listen music or just to dream. It will be mine only mine. It doesn’t mean that I’m selfish; I just want adults to respect my right to have a bit of privacy at home. We have the same problem at school, too. Refuge families from other parts of Azerbaijan have settled in 15 classrooms of our school. So we sometimes have classes in the dining-hall, where it’s very cold in wintertime. Of course adults have many serious problems, which they have to solve, but by trying to solve them they don’t pay attention to us. I don’t know how to make our life better but I just want to have normal conditions to live in and to get an education. Don’t make us be grown-up before time comes. Let us enjoy our childhood. It’s all I ask about.
	Laman Q. Air pollution in Azerbaijan is primarily connected with the operations of electric power stations as well as industrial and transportation factors. Official statistics from 2000 estimate air pollution from constantly operating industrial enterprises at 515,4 tons. Transportation contributes 392,7 million tons. The decline in the level of emissions from the 1990 level is explained by the initial years of independence, not from the use of friendlier technologies or approaches. More recently, the level of emissions has begun to increase as the economy expands. The content of emissions from major emission sources is indicative of the considerable continued discharge of GREENHOUSE and ozone-depleting gases, in relation to a comparatively low industrial output. When comparing the volume and content of the waste with the volume of the product, the need to introduce different technologies becomes very apparent. As to the levels of air pollution, the most troubling is the situation of the abs heron peninsula. Here 248 sq km of relative discomfort zones have been identified. For Ganja, another urban and industrial center in north-center Azerbaijan, the same indicators are 62 and 233sq km. Long living is characterized by living long life as social biologic law. Look to the result of the international symposium of gerontologist held in 1962 in Leningrad and European symposium of international health organization held in 1963. In Kiev long living people are considered to be those live more than 90 years old. As the result of counting of population in 1970 it was discovered that there are 2774 people whose ages are over 100 years.
	Leyla M. I have a Dream… I think, quality of life in Azerbaijan is average. I would like it to get better and better every other day. I would like our city to be much more beautiful, prosperous and richer. I want all the population of our city to have jobs, all the children to receive education. I wish all the problems about unemployment would have been solved in future. I want our city to have much amusement for children and youngsters. I want all the old men of our city to be taken care of by administrative offices. I would like our city to be clean. We must protect our land from littering, air pollution, water pollution, and destruction of natural resources. I want all the visitors to be admired and pleased by the beauty of our city. The main problem of our city is gas and electricity. Everybody knows that we have no gas and electricity in winter. And many people are cold in their flats, working places and schools. So, I want these problems to be solved by our administrative groups. I want all the people to be happy. One more thing, I want our city to be the centre of healthy living. I want our city to become a wonderful Resort Center, where young and old, rich and poor, local or visitor could care about their health and have a lot of fun.
	Teymur X. Azerbaijan is newly independent country. It has gained it’s independence in 1991. As a young developing country, it faces a lot of social—economical, political and ecological problems. I’m more concerned about ecological problems because it directly influences our health and quality of life. As I live on the bank of the river Kur and drink water from this water source. Water contamination worries me most of all. In the Kur river, specialists revealed a catastrophic concentration of oil products, which exceeds admissible concentrations by 210 per cent, as well as a very high (higher than the admissible concentrations by 900 per cent) level of phenol, a poisonous substance. Note that fish do not even reproduce in this "Mendeleyev" water, whereas we drink a catastrophic concentration of copper, cobalt, oil products, phenol and various chemical reagents which were 9 or 10 times "higher" than the admissible levels, was revealed during the research in the soil on a 20-km-wide strip along the border. Tributaries feeding the Kur from the territory of Armenia and Georgia reach Azerbaijan highly contaminated. The industrial centers in Rustavi, Georgia,where there are many chemical factories and the biggest copper and molybdenium plant in Alaverdi, Armenia make there, malicious contribution to this pollution. This greatly affects the quality of water in Transit Rivers that contaminate the Caspian Sea from Georgia via Azerbaijan. In most situations, contaminants are found at levels that pose threats to public health. Microbial contaminants (such as bacteria and viruses) are of special concern because they may cause immediate, or acute, reactions, such as vomiting or diarrhea. Long-term exposure to some contaminants (such as pesticides, minerals, and solvents) at levels above standards may cause gastrointestinal problems, skin irritations, cancer, reproductive and developmental problems, and other chronic health effects. I think we must emphasize protecting sources of drinking water from contamination. Public water systems must monitor water and deliver water that meets all standards. It is more desirable, effective and economical to prevent contamination of drinking water supplies than to pay for treatment, or to clean up an already-polluted source.